Apple confirmed today that it will be holding its WWDC keynote presentation on June 10, the opening day of the five day conference.

The news comes as no surprise since Apple always chooses to kick-off the conference with its keynote. Other news about the keynote such as who will be speaking and what exactly will be unveiled are still unknown. We do, however, know for sure that Apple will show off its next version of OS X and iOS at the presentation. Newly updated Macbook Airs with Intel’s Haswell processors also seem like a fair bet. Expect Tim Cook to make an appearance at some point too.

With Apple having not launched a product this spring, there are also rumors that it could choose to unveil a new product like the iWatch at the event. It’s unlikely though.

The event will take place Monday, June 10 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. The exact time of day that the presentation will take place has yet to be announced.

Just over two more weeks until we FINALLY get to see some new stuff out of Apple.

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While Apple is known not to spend as much money lobbying Washington as other large corporations, it seems as though the company is on track to significantly increase this spending amount, by doubling it to $4 million this year.

Apple’s increase in spending comes at a time where the U.S. government has been much tighter on the company, having recently grilled Tim Cook and his company for allegedly having avoided paying $9 billion in U.S. taxes by keeping $100 billion in oversea accounts, despite companies like General Electric keeping 108 billion dollars overseas.

While Apple spent $2 million on lobbying in 2012, Microsoft spent $8.1 million and Google spent $16.5 million in the same year.

Apple is now hiring lobbyists to argue its case on corporate tax reform, stating that it will never bring its money back stateside until the tax system is reformed to the point where it would be a logical choice. Apple’s chief lobbyist, Catherine Novelli, worked for President George W. Bush’s administration as a top trade official.

Even with its relatively small amount spent on lobbying, it will be interesting to see if one of the world’s most powerful companies will be able to make any significant change to America’s tax system.

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I don’t really enjoy waking up. I prefer to let my good old natural circadian rhythm take its course on a day to day basis. Then I had a kid. Then I started waking up at random times. Then everything went to hell with my natural wakeup schedule. For those of you who have kids to take care of, or god awful 9 to 5 jobs, you’ll need an alarm clock. Wake is a minimalistic, and fine choice of an application.

The application is pretty much all gesture-based and streamlined for easy access to your alarm clocks. The best part of the app is that you get to actually slap your iPhone to snooze, or flip it to turn your alarm clock off. If you want to stop the alarm from chirping you, you can shake your phone to stop the alarm.

The application is two bucks on the App Store.

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It had to happen sooner or later. Recently acquired by Dropbox, the Mailbox team has been hard at work bringing its GTD-style email application to the iPad. The company has announced today that the iPad version of the application is ready for release.

We haven’t taken the app for a spin just yet, but we’ll be getting a review to you shortly.

You can pick the app up online today once it propagates around Apple’s servers. The application is universal, so you should see a nice update in the App Store waiting for you if you’ve already picked up the iPhone application.

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There has been a ton of speculation about Apple making a smartwatch, called the “iWatch”, by tech pundits. One analyst has made a prediction that we will see the iWatch in 2014.

Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities believes next year will be the year Apple decides to make a wearable computing device. One reason he says that it will come out next year, and not this year, is based on the rumor  that Apple will be making big changes to iOS and needs to focus their resources on their mobile OS instead of putting the finishing touches on the iWatch.

Kuo believes that the screen will be 1.5 to 2.0 inches and will use the iPod nano for inspiration, which isn’t surprising considering the nano is used by people as a watch with third-party watch straps, such as the Lunatik brand. It could also have biometrics to increase the number of situations in which the iWatch could be useful.

Though Apple has said that they will be introducing “exciting new product categories” this year, no one outside of Apple really knows for sure what those categories truly are. For now, people are speculating based on hunches and the past history of Apple. If done right, a watch from Apple could be interesting. We will have to wait and see what happens though.

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Apparently working as an analyst for Gartner is a big first step towards working for Apple’s marketing department. According to Forbes, Michael Gartenberg is now working on Apple’s marketing team under Phil Schiller.

Sounds like he has his own office and everything:

Gartenberg didn’t immediately reply to a voicemail message left at his office at Apple asking him to talk about his new role for the Cupertino, California-based company. He is working on the marketing team under Apple’s global marketing chief Phil Schiller, according to sources.

Gartenberg has also worked at Microsoft as an “enthusiastic evangelist” back in 2007, so this isn’t his first stint at a major technology company. I guess that’s short for he’s been around the block.

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Intel hasn’t revealed much about its plans for a new devices unit, but we do know that Mike Bell, a former Apple executive, will head up the new Smart Devices Unit. Bell last worked at Apple in 2007 and then went over to Palm after that. Most recently he has been co-leading Intel’s mobile chip business.

The new division will look at new technologies and product trends, including ultra-mobile products, Intel explained. “The group will be tasked with turning cool technology and business model innovations into products that shape and lead markets” the chipmaker told AllThingsD. Intel didn’t have much more to say about the new unit.

The mobile chip unit will now be run by Hermann Eul, who had been co-leading it will Bell. These new changes in the company are part of a larger series of organizational changes that are being made by Brian Krzanich, the company’s new CEO.

Image Credit: Intel

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It looks like Apple is starting to offer the option to pay with PayPal on its Apple Online Store. The feature was first discovered on the German Online Store, and seems to be limited there for now, but it’s probably indicative of a broader roll out to other countries at some point.

For a while now, users in the U.S. have been able to set up PayPal as a payment option for their Apple ID on the desktop, which allows for purchasing content on iTunes and the Mac App Store. Apple also allows education customers to use PayPal for purchases of iOS apps, but there service hasn’t yet extended to Apple’s Online Store.

Users in Germany will find an explanation on Apple’s help page for how to choose PayPal at checkout. Instead of setting up a PayPal account as a payment option for their Apple ID, they will be redirected to log in using their PayPal username and password when purchasing something.

Hopefully other countries will start seeing PayPal as an option for the Apple Online Store soon too.

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François Beaufort, a member of the Google Chrome team, posted a new image to his Google+ page revealing that Google is working on bringing the Chrome App Launcher to the Mac. Chrome users can even try out a beta version of it now by installing Chromium and then running a quick command in terminal. You’ll also need to download at least one app from the Chrome Web Store in addition to Chromium.

Once downloaded, clicking the dock icon will bring up a grid of installed apps. When you click on one of those apps it will open the browser window in full with the app you selected. The icon will then go back to is usual purpose of bringing Chromium windows to the forefront. To open other apps you’ll have to do it from the browser window itself.

It’s not clear when exactly a full version of the Chrome App Launcher will be available for the Mac, but with a beta version now available it’ll likely be here pretty soon.

Image Credit: François Beaufort

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It’s not uncommon for smaller hotels to include iPads in guest rooms as a way to keep guests entertained over the course of their stay. 24 karat gold iPads, however, are a luxury item only available in the richest of hotels, just like the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. Of course, a Dubai hotel has 24 karat gold iPads.

The iPads are embossed with the company logo, and come complete with hotel food menus, and a virtual concierge to make accommodations more enjoyable while guests lounge in their beds before taking off for some daily activities.

From TravelWeekly:

Heinrich Morio, the hotel’s general manager, said: “Our exclusive Burj Al Arab 24-carat gold iPads epitomise Jumeirah’s philosophy of ‘stay different’ and further enhance our guests’ experience during their stay. “We have also recently introduced iMacs inside all our suites to ensure that we offer thoroughly modern guest experiences and keep up with hospitality industry trends.”

The gold iPads will be available in the hotel’s lobby for purchase just in case you forgot your iPad at home before taking off to Dubai. I love my luxury items, but I haven’t been able to add a gold iPad to my Apple collection just yet. Maybe I’ll start saving and pick one up when the iPad hits version 999, or maybe I’ll just wait for the iPad 1000.

Via Macworld UK

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Though Apple has not officially been accused of any wrongdoing yet, congressional investigators have found that the company has avoided paying billions in taxes. This has been done through using tax havens and corporate tax loopholes. Investigators even found that Apple has paid less than their public filings would indicate, saving the company billions of dollars every year from 2009 through 2011.

Apple released a statement by Tim Cook that defends the company. Cook denies charges that Apple used any “tax gimmicks” to avoid paying taxes, and that Apple’s largest subsidies do not help them avoid taxes.

Apple recently announced that they are going to give $100 billion back to shareholders over the next 3 years, but decided to take on debt rather then repatriate the money, which helped avoid repatriation taxes.

This news comes as Tim Cook plans to meet with lawmakers on Tuesday to discuss tax reforms for U.S. businesses, including simplifying tax codes and establishing reasonable taxes on overseas earnings.

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A new phone must be around the corner, right? It’s only a matter of time until we hear Apple’s PR people have sent out emails, the beard says “yup”, and we find ourselves on the outside, looking in once again. Until that day comes we get to burry ourselves in rumors, and try and make heads of what exactly is coming down the pipeline with the next iPhone.

This infographic from RIA.Ru shows off the evolution of major features and specs from one iPhone to the next from the original iPhone all the way to the iPhone 5. It tracks things like starting prices, processor speed, wireless technologies, camera and other goodies.

If you’re looking for a one stop place to re-hash the past iPhones, this infographic is a great place to start.

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I have an Intel Mac Pro (1,1) collecting dust. Right now the thing just servers up some cool things we’re working on for Macgasm (more on that at a later date). I’ve thought about doing a lot of things with the beast, but never once has the idea of turning it into a BBQ grilling machine crossed my mind.

Turns out someone’s actually thought it up, and already put meat to aluminum. Not sure if Mr. Jobs would have been impressed or disgusted at this one though.

You can check out the whole step-by-step gallery on Imgur.

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American Apple Store visitors average a new high of $57 spent per customer. According to Asymco’s Horace Dediu, Apple Stores have risen in revenue by 7% during the last quarter, with each store raking in an average of $13 million per quarter. According to Ascymo, Apple Stores brought in an average of 250,000 customers per store during Q1 2013 while each store has roughly 110 employees. Both of these numbers have increased exponentially since the launch of the iPhone in 2007.

Apple currently brings in the most revenue per square foot over any other American retailer. Asymco has reported that the company is doing twice as well as Tiffany and Co., the second best retailer, and three times better than Lululemon Athletica who ranks third on the list. Personally, I’d like to see Apple’s numbers compared to Microsoft and Samsung’s retail stores.

Via: iMore
Image Source: ping ping

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Samsung announced this morning that it will be hosting a global competition to find developers who will create third-party apps specifically for its Galaxy smartphones. The competition will award 10 winners with a combined $800,000 prize. Many consumers are under the impression that Samsung’s apps just aren’t as good as Apple’s, an issue Samsung is hoping to solve with this competition.

Samsung is looking for apps that can be coordinated with its Group Play service, which lets users share content like photos, games and music between devices at the same time.

“We will continue to encourage mobile developers to develop new and innovative applications with newly-launched features of our Galaxy series,” explained Won-Pyo Hong, head of Samsung Electronics’ media solution center.

Samsung’s move to compete more evenly with Apple in the app market comes at the same time as new research from Strategy Analytics is revealed. According to the research, Samsung had a 33.1% global smartphone marketshare last quarter, while Apple only had 17.9%, but analysts estimate that Samsung is falling behind Apple in the high-end market which is where the profit is made.

Samsung hasn’t seen very good reviews for the software in its Galaxy S4, which is a big weakness when compared to Apple. Samsung has always been more of a hardware manufacturer than software developer, but better software would defintely bring it on more equal footing with Apple, its biggest rival.

As for the competition’s prize money, $200,000 will go to the first place winner, with $100,000 awarded to three second place winners and six third place winners will get $50,000. All submitted apps must be free apps, but can use in-app purchasing and advertising. Uniqueness, functionality, usability, commercial potential, and design will help determine the winners, which might get an investment from Samsung’s venture capital arm.

Image Credit: CNET

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A couple of reports today are suggesting that Apple is advancing its development and production of the rumored smart watch. The reports come from the Taiwanese newspaper Economic Times. The first report claims that Apple has started testing 1.5-inch OLED displays from RITEK subsidiary TiRdisplay.

According to the report, RITEK’s joint partnership with RitFast will also supply the touch sensor technology that will be used for the watch.

This report reflects earlier rumors about Apple’s plans for RiTdisplay’s 1.5-inch displays and Intel being involved in the project. Today’s report also mentions that Apple had originally wanted to use a 1.8-inch display in the smart watch. That size proved to be too large, however, so the company decided on a smaller 1.5-inch display.

The second report talked about the smart watch industry as a whole. According to “market rumors,” Foxconn has already received orders for Apple’s smart watch, but only with small volume orders around 1,000 units for small-scale production trial.

The Apple smart watch rumor really picked up speed in December after reports that Apple and Intel were working together to produce it surfaced. Other rumors have suggested that Apple has experimented with curved glass designs for the smart watch’s display. Other than that, the rumor mill has been relatively quiet the last couple of months concerning the Apple smart watch. At the beginning of March, reports claimed that the rumored device could launch this year.

Image Credit: Sizzlehut

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The latest rumor from none other than DigiTimes claims that trial production of Apple’s thinner and lighter fifth-generation iPad will begin soon with production really ramping up in July. As usual, DigiTimes is citing sources at Taiwan’s supply chain for the information.

According to DigiTimes, the new iPad is expected to launch in stores as early as September and will have a 2,048 x 1,536 Retina display, which is the same as the fourth-generation iPad. The new display, however, will reportedly be built on a glass substrate of 0.2mm, which is thinner than the one in the current iPad. Sources also say that the new iPad will have a narrow bezel.

On top of that, the next iPad will supposedly use just one LED light bar for backlighting. As of now, all Retina display iPads feature two LED light bars. All of these reported changes are expected to make the next-generation iPad thinner and 25-33% lighter than the previous model.

LG Display, Samsung Display and Sharp are expected to supply the display panels for the fifth-generation iPad.

Image Credit: gdgt

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Apple has just kicked Bang With Friends, an app that launched earlier this month, from its home on the App Store. Apple has yet to release why it has removed the app, but judging by its title and purpose, we’re pretty sure you can deduce where Apple’s opinion is on this one.

The folks at Bang With Friends have responded to the removal by saying that the company is working with Apple for a reentry into the store. However, if you still feel the need to use the Facebook-based sex app, you can do so via its web client. In the meantime, you can always try a real relationship.

Bang With Friends is an iPhone and web app that lets you choose which Facebook friends you would like to “bang with” or “hang with.” If the friend you’ve selected would like to bang or hang with you as well, you’ll both get notifications. If not, they’ll never know…

The post Apple Boots ‘Bang With Friends’ From The App Store appeared first on Macgasm.

While Tim Cook had revealed earlier in the year that a “Made In U.S.A” Mac was on its way that would be manufactured in the U.S. rather than overseas, he has now revealed that a number of smaller parts for the Mac will be built within America as well.

Tim Cook sat down yesterday for an interview with Politco, where he said that the Mac will include parts manufactured in various states, in addition to the manufacturing of the entire computer which will also take place in the U.S. Cook states that it is all part of a $100 million investment Apple is putting into domestic manufacturing.

“We’re going very deep in this project,” Cook said, noting that not only will the final product be manufactured in the U.S., but so will many of its components. Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Florida and Kentucky are among the states he mentioned as having parts and assembly located.

Production of the Made in U.S.A Mac is set to begin sometime in 2013. Apple has still yet to announce which model Mac will be receiving the treatment, however, the most popular predictions are either the Mac Pro or the Mac mini.

The post Tim Cook Reveals The “Made In U.S.A” Mac Will Be Thoroughly American appeared first on Macgasm.

It seems as though Apple is prepping to unveil a new version of the Macbook Air at next month’s WWDC. This conclusions comes after almost every major store is reporting that they no longer have any stock of the 13-inch default high-end Air that comes with a 1.8GHz processor and 256GB of flash storage.

One of the most telling signs of an upcoming new Apple product revision is when the current stock for that product starts drying up at stores. Apple always chooses to stop shipping and producing its old computers to ramp up production of their new model and to free up space at retail stores for the new device in the weeks leading up to its release.

AppleInsider reports that the Air is currently sold out at Amazon, B&H, MacConnection, MacMall, and J&R. The only Apple reseller they found that was actually still selling the device was Best Buy.

Rumors have been circling for some time that a new Macbook Air would be unveiled at WWDC and that it would include Intel’s new Haswell processor. The Haswell processors are set to launch in a couple of weeks, so the timing works out perfectly.

Long story short, if you’re thinking about getting a Macbook Air, you should probably wait a month.

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While the word has been that Apple was planning to unveil its “iRadio” music streaming service at WWDC, it seems as though the company may not hit this June date due to licensing agreement problems with music publishers.

While previous reports have said that Apple has already signed a deal with Universal Music Group, The Verge is now reporting that the largest music publisher, Sony/ATV, has recently rejected signing to Apple’s current terms. The report also states that the fourth largest publisher, WMG, is still holding out on closing the deal as well.

If the deals cannot be made soon, we may either not see iRadio at WWDC at all, or we may see it launch with a limited selection as the companies continue to negotiate.

Apple is likely more keen than ever now to get its streaming service out into the world, with Google’s recent launch of its own music streaming service.

WWDC is just less than a month away, stay tuned.

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Apple’s iPad can be used in place of a lot of things, like physical books, magazines, and maps. It sounds like it can also save you a ton of cash. The U.S. Air Force is using the popular tablet to save $50 million by replacing flight manuals. Last year the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command awarded a $9.36 million contract for up to 18,000 iPads for the project. As a result, Apple’s iPad is expected to save the U.S. Air Force over $50 million in cost saving over the next ten years.

The Air Mobility Command provides Air Force cargo, passenger transport, refuelling and aeromedical evacuation services. In a phone interview with The Street, the Air Force’s Mobility Command said that using iPads instead of paper flight manuals with amount to $750,000 savings annually on fuel alone thanks to decreased weight. On top of that, not having to print flight manuals anymore will save $5 million a year.

Major Brian Moritz, manager of the AMC’s electronic flight bag program, said it will save “about 90 pounds of paper per aircraft and [limits] the need for each crew member to carry a 30 to 40 pound paper file.”

About 16,000 third-generation iPads with Retina displays are now being used by the AMC crew. The other 2,000 units have been deployed across other Air Force units.

Image Credit: TheStreet

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Citing the elusive “Taiwan-based supply chain sources,” DigiTimes is reporting that AU Optronics is seeing decreased shipment orders of iPad mini panels, going from four million units in the first quarter of 2013 to 2.5-2.8 million units in the second quarter. The supplier is also rumored to be getting dropped by Apple as a major panel supplier for the next-generation iPad mini.

The iPad mini is also expected to see a drop in overall shipments of around 20-30% as we enter a period that is traditionally “a slow purchasing period for consumers.”

AU Optronics has reportedly faced issues in producing iPad mini display panels, which is why LG and Sharp might step in to replace the supplier. According to DigiTimes, AU Optrinics is “not expected” to remain an iPad mini panel supplier though.

Despite the issues that the supplier has faced, AU Optronics has still reportedly submitted panels for use in the next-iPad mini for Apple certification. So far though, sources say that LG and Sharp are the only ones that have been chosen as panel suppliers for the next-generation iPad mini.

Image Credit: Mobile Orchard

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It’s no secret that iOS games, and phone-based gaming in general, are the future. According to the second edition of the ongoing quarterly AppAnnie & IDC Portable Gaming Report, there is a clear shift in consumer spending from gaming-optimized handhelds to phone-based devices.

The app analysis firm looked at consumer spending on games in the fourth quarter of 2012 and compared it to the first quarter of 2013. The results showed an obvious increase in iOS game spending with a significant decrease in on traditional handheld games.

According to the report:

• iOS and Google Play both saw growth in game downloads and consumer spending
• iOS is now the leader in consumer spending on games, with Google Play likely to surpass gaming-optimized handhelds in 2Q13
• Gaming-optimized handhelds experienced significant decreases in consumer spending and packaged game shipments due to seasonality

iOS and Android gaming isn’t really affected by “seasonality” since developers put new games out throughout the whole year.

Image Credit: Mashable

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Though Apple was already tangling with the DOJ over alleged pricing fixing in the iBooks store, Tim Cook is set to testify in front of the Senate next week regarding tax reform. At issue is Apple’s vast overseas cash stores, something many senators feel is a tax avoidance scheme.

Tim Cook was quoted in a Politico article, ““I can tell you unequivocally Apple does not funnel its domestic profits overseas. We don’t do that. We pay taxes on all the products we sell in the U.S., and we pay every dollar that we owe. And so I’d like to be really clear on that.”

This is a bit of a change for Apple, a company that hasn’t traditionally played a big role in Washington. In the last year the company has spent nearly a million dollars launching its lobbying efforts, and it appears that Cook is prepared to make a charm offensive. He is quick to point out that Apple is not only one of the largest US taxpayers, but it was also investing $100 million in US manufacturing.

It appears that Apple is suffering from being the big kid on the block. The senators feel that the tech industry as a whole uses offshore holdings to avoid taxes. Cook is joining in the chorus of voices in tech that are asking for clearer tax rules, and help bring their tax burdens in line with overseas competitors.

The post Tim Cook speaks out about taxes appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has released another minor update for iTunes, this time with a couple visual enhancements.

The biggest update of iTunes 11.0.3 comes to MiniPlayer, the tiny sized iTunes player that lets you play songs without having the fullscreen iTunes open. Besides general aesthetic improvements, MiniPlayer now comes with a new, slightly larger view that also incorporates album artwork. You can also now see a song’s progress bar within iTunes.

Other improvements include the ability to see album artwork when browsing through the Songs list, better support for multi-disc albums, and some typical bug fixes.

This version of iTunes comes with several new features and improvements, including:

• New MiniPlayer. MiniPlayer now includes a beautiful new view that showcases your album artwork. In addition, a progress bar is now built right into MiniPlayer.
• Improved Songs View. You can now enjoy your album artwork while in Songs view.
• Multi-Disc Albums. Albums with multiple discs now appear as a single album.

This update also provides performance improvements when searching and sorting large iTunes libraries.”

There you have it. Get your update on…

The post iTunes 11.0.3 Released, Brings Better MiniPlayer And Songs View appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has reportedly submitted plans to open a new store in San Francisco’s Union Square, replacing the current flagship location it has on Stockton and Ellis just a few blocks away.

The new location will be both bigger and will feature a much more unique design, with glass making up the entirety of the building’s front facing wall. The store will be roughly 45% bigger than its old location, and will go from 350 employees to 400.

The old store has been in operation for nine years, and is one of the three total Apple stores located within the city.

City officials are reportedly excited about the move, hoping that it will bring significant amounts of business to Union Square thanks to all the additional foot traffic.

Apple is likely making the move to deal with its problem of being “too popular” and having too much of a crowded location, something that Tim Cook stated has been a problem with a number of Apple’s stores.

The post Apple Relocating Flagship Store In San Francisco, Giving It A Glass Makeover appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has released an official statement announcing the winner of the $10,000 iTunes gift card for downloading the 50 billionth app from the App Store.

The winner is Brandon Ashmore of Mentor, Ohio. The landmark app download that he downloaded was Say the Same by Space Inch, LLC.

Apple revealed that customers were downloading more than 800 apps per second at a rate of over two billion apps per month on the App Store.

“Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, said. “The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.”

The following 50 customers to download apps will also receive $500 gift certificates. Apple officially reached this milestone yesterday, having started the promo on May 2.

The post Apple Announces The Winner Of $10,000 iTunes Gift Card appeared first on Macgasm.

I love a good fight. I’ve been in a few myself on Twitter. Yesterday was a different kind of fight altogether as Google’s IO conference was streaming across the globe. Nerds everywhere were singing praises, or hurdling damning tweets in Google’s direction, but they were doing it in parallel.

I fall somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to my opinions about IO yesterday, and found the bickering to be somewhat amusing. I took to Twitter to joke about it, and Victor Agreda Jr., Editor-In-Chief over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, shared the video above with me.

He couldn’t be more right.

The post Funny: This Is Exactly What It Was Like On Twitter During Google IO Yesterday appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has just announced that the App Store has hit 50 billion application downloads, ending the $10,000 iTunes gift card giveaway promo. This promotion was announced on May 2nd and was set to end whenever the App Store hit the 50 billion download mark. The person who downloaded the 50 billionth app will receive a $10,000 gift card, while 50 others will receive $500 gift certificates.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Apple run promotions for its milestone download numbers. The company celebrated in a similar way for its 25 billionth app download, which took place just 14 months ago. We’ve also seen the company celebrate iTunes music store milestones with giveaways.

Apple released the following statement on the 50 billion app download page:

It’s official—the 50 billionth app has been downloaded. Check back soon when we announce the winner of the $10,000 App Store Card. Plus, check out the most popular paid and free apps—each one having played a big role in achieving this historic benchmark.

Apple has yet to announce the winner of the 50 billion application download promotion, but we’ll let you know when the name is announced.

The post App Store Hits 50 Billion Downloads, Promo Winner Not Yet Announced appeared first on Macgasm.

If you’re looking to add blank spaces to your iOS home screen, instead of having all the applications line up one after another, a newly found bug in iOS has made it possible.

1. Put your apps in this order in the bottom row of an iOS page: App, Group with two apps in it, app, app.
2. Move an app out of the folder, and onto the last app in the row to create a new folder.
3. While maintaining your touch on the screen, drag the application back to its original position.
4. Go back to the newly created folder, tap and hold the application inside it, and move it to the location where you want the space to appear on your home screen.

Boom.

Frankly, it’s completely asinine that we even have to do this sort of thing to get a spacer onto our home screens.  This is a great find by Dom Esposito over at App Advice.

Via App Advice

The post How To Add Blank Spaces To Your Home Screen Without Jailbreaking appeared first on Macgasm.

If you’re like us, and just finished watching the epic-length fireside at Google IO where Larry Page waxed philosophical about interoperability and not always being about the money, this next bit of news may have you scratching your head.

According to The Verge, Google has demanded that Microsoft remove its YouTube application from Windows Phone because it doesn’t show advertisements:

Google’s complaint centers on the lack of ads in Microsoft’s YouTube app, something it claims is a direct violation of the terms and conditions of the company’s YouTube API. The Verge has learned that Microsoft created the app without Google’s consent with features that specifically prevent ads from playing. The lack of ads clearly hits Google’s own revenues, but also those of its third-party content creators that are paid through the company’s AdSense program.

Well now I’m conflicted. Which is it? Should we live on Google’s fantasy island without rules and regulations, or should we live in a world where companies have their hands held behind their backs because of lawyers and laws? It sounds to me like Larry Page, despite his excellent fireside comments about the state of technology, may be a little bit confused himself these days.

The post Google Demands Microsoft Remove Its YouTube Windows Phone App appeared first on Macgasm.

If there was ever a case for a walled garden, and tighter control from Google for the Android platform, this may just be it. According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung has captured 95% share of global Android smartphone profits during the first fiscal quarter of 2013.

Stop and think about the implications for a moment. If Samsung decided to fork Android like Amazon did, 95% of Google’s Android marketshare would evaporate in an instant.

At this point, it has to be an inevitable that Samsung will fork Android. Right?

The post It Should Probably Be Called Samdroid At This Point appeared first on Macgasm.

Just two weeks ago Yahoo! Mail for iOS  was drastically updated, and today the app has has been given some more attention, although this time much less than the last time. This update adds support for Apple’s AirPrint service, so you can print wirelessly from your favorite iDevice. Who prints emails these days though?

The only catch is that you’ll need a printer that is compatible with AirPrint or a desktop application that will turn your printer into an AirPrint-enabled printer, otherwise this update won’t do much for you. Who has an AirPrint printer?

To use Yahoo! Mail’s new AirPrint service, tap the reply button at the bottom of the screen and select “Print.” If you want to print an attachment, first open it and then select the “Print” option found in the share button. You can even choose which printer you want to send your documents to, in case you have more than one, and specify how many copies you want.

If you want to learn more about AirPrint, visit Apple’s AirPrint support page.

As usual, the update also comes with some performance improvements and bug fixes. The updated Yahoo! Mail is now available on the App Store for free.

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According to new rumors that stem from supply chain sources in Taiwan, Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5S could feature a sapphire crystal home button that comes complete with a new fingerprint sensor.

Apple is reportedly getting rid of the traditional physical home button and turning instead to a touch-sensitive button covered by scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass. By using the sapphire crystal, Apple hopes to prevent the button from getting scratched and ruining the fingerprint sensor.

The iPhone 5 already features sapphire crystal materials with a sapphire crystal camera lens on the back, which Apple used to prevent scratches from ruining photos. Apple is now expected to use the same material for the iPhone 5S home button.

According to Taiwanese website TechNews, the iPhone 5S won’t be a physical button that you push and instead will be a touch home button. It would get rid of one of the more unreliable aspects of the iPhone as the home button occasionally fails after being used for a long time as it collects dirt and other grime from daily usage.

Since Apple acquired AuthenTec last year, it’s been rumored that Apple would employ touch sensors in the next iPhone, and the use of sapphire crystals makes this rumor even more plausible. Add in Apple’s penchant for removing unnecessary buttons and ports, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for an Apple rumor.

TechNews says the next-generation iPhone will launch in August or September, along with the rumored plastic lower-cost iPhone.

The post iPhone 5S To Feature Sapphire Crystal Home Button With Fingerprint Sensor? appeared first on Macgasm.

In what’s probably a giant tell about the value of a web app versus a native application, Amazon will soon be releasing its cloud media player for OS X. That being said, the company hasn’t directly announced when it will be releasing its native desktop client that will compete directly with Apple’s iTunes.

The application will do everything you would expect it to: focus on your music, access your purchased music content, and take advantage of its instant search to find all of your buried songs from your childhood.

That’s not the best part though. Cloud Player will scour your Mac and track down all of your iTunes purchases and songs and then transfer them to Cloud Player so you can access both Amazon and Apple content from within the player.

It’s nice to have a competitor, even if the color scheme looks like the application came right out of the 90s Winamp era. The Jury is still out on whether or not this application whips the llama’s ass like Winamp though.

Via iMore

The post Amazon To Take On Apple’s iTunes With Cloud Player For Mac appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has posted a new job listings to its job board related to a position with the iWork team.  Apple has been beefing up its iWork development team since February, and today the company has added a Software QA Engineer position to the board.

Other open positions include a Product Specialist, a Verification Engineer, a Technical Production Ninja, a Visual Motion Designer, a HiDPI Image Specialist and the three QA Software Engineers mentioned previously.

iWork is Apple’s productivity suite that competes with Microsoft Office. The suite consists of Pages, Numbers and Keynote. These apps are available for both Mac and iOS via the App Store and can be purchased separately for $19.99 per app on the Mac and $9.99 per app on the iPad and iPhone.

iWork for Mac is long overdue for an upgrade as the last major iteration was released at Macworld Expo 2009. Since then, we’ve seen small updates pushed to the Mac app as well as the introduction of the iPad and iPhone app. These applications sync with each other via iCloud, so you can start a document on your Mac and finish it on your iPad.

Image Credit: renatomitra

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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants phone theft rates to drop. To do this, he’s pointing his finger at the phone and OS manufacturers themselves, saying that they aren’t doing enough to deter their devices from being targets for theft.

Schneiderman has sent letters to the offices of Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung, extending an invitation for the companies to work together with his office in order to develop new antitheft measures.

“Surely we can work together to find solutions that lead to a reduction in violent street crime targeting consumers,” says Schneiderman. In the letters, Schneiderman references a number of specific incidents that have occured in the city which involved violent or fatal altercations over people trying to steal iPhones.

One of the major reasons New York wants to address this issue is because it causes bad press for the city and the police department. For example, overall crime rates would have decreased in the city in 2012 if it weren’t for a massive increase in Apple product thefts. If the thefts hadn’t occured, the city would have been able to tell its citizens that crime had decreased by 4%.

Schneiderman doesn’t cut the companies any slack with his letters, going as far as to imply that they might be purposefully enabling theft as it earns them more money in replacement device sales. “I would be especially concerned if device theft accrues to your financial benefit through increased sales of replacement devices.”

While companies like Apple offer features such as Find My iPhone, which offer a number of security measures to users, Schneiderman doesn’t think it’s enough. Schneiderman thinks these companies should find a way to render a phone completely useless if stolen, as a means of deterring theft.

It will be interesting to see if any of the companies respond to Schneiderman’s letter and if they do end up agreeing to sit down with him.

When people are able to steal iPhones like this, you know you have a problem.

The post New York Wants Apple, Google, Microsoft And Samsung To Make Their Phones Harder To Steal appeared first on Macgasm.

CBS News has released some previously unaired footage taken from its 60 Minutes interview with Bill Gates earlier in the week. The new footage shows Gates getting teary-eyed when discussing his final meeting with the then very ill Steve Jobs.

Gates says that in his last meeting with Jobs, the two talked about retrospective things like “what we’d learned”, as well as conversations about things like family. Jobs was also excitedly showing Gates the plans for his yacht that he was having built, although the former Apple CEO never got to see it finished.

Gates states that Jobs didn’t seem at all angry or bitter about his sickness, and rather that he felt disappointed by their failures such as having never made as much of an impact on education as he wanted to up until that point.

When asked by interviewer Charlie Rose what Jobs had that Gates wishes he had, Gates without hesitation said, “His sense of design.”

Watch the full video to get a closer look at the interesting and unique relationship that existed between the tech leaders.

The post Bill Gates Emotionally Recounts Last Words With Steve Jobs appeared first on Macgasm.

If you were to think of all the things you could write a Steve Jobs/Steve Wozniak graphic novel about, you’d likely never come up with the concept for Steve and Steve.

The comic follows Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who have become trapped within a large dome in the middle of the forest for no explicable reason. The two get high and have deep talks that are loosely related to technology and that sometimes last for pages on end. They talk about anything from braiding hair to lesbian witches, all providing for a trippy yet entertaining experience.

The graphic novel is surprisingly funny and does a great job at mocking the well known personality traits of Jobs and Wozniak. Currently just the prologue is available, however, the prologue still manages to give a ton of content and a good setup for the future story, which is expected to be continued sometime this month. Plus, ya know, it’s free.

The whole comic, created by acclaimed comic writer Patrick Sean Farley, is available to read online with a nice easy to read interface.

If you have some time, definitely check out the graphic novel here. It’s fair to say you’ll never read anything like it.

Via Cult of Mac

The post Steve and Steve: A Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak Comic You Have To See To Believe appeared first on Macgasm.

A new report from Reuters is suggesting that Pegatron has begun eating into Foxconn’s orders.

“Fellow Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron wants to grab more orders to assemble the fast-selling iPhone and iPad from the California-based tech giant. Analysts say Pegatron offers more competitive pricing – at the expense of lower margins – and appears to be succeeding in pulling in more orders from Apple.”

The article also suggests that it may have something to do with increasing costs from Foxconn, and then in the next breath mentions wage increases and improved working conditions as a reason why Foxconn could be losing business:

“The company, which has come under fire for labor conditions in its factories supplying Apple, has raised wages and improved amenities. But rising labor costs erode margins, and it has been moving manufacturing to China’s cheaper inland provinces.”

Pretty sure Reuters wants you to infer that Apple’s moving to Pegatron because labor cost increases at Foxconn have made it too expensive to do business with the company, despite providing no evidence to the claims, and publishing it as an aside. Nothing like padding your post with garbage to meet quotas.

The post Pegatron To Eat More Of Foxconn’s Apples appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple’s killing off its SuperDrives slowly but surely. If you have a new MacBook Air, or a Retina MacBook Pro, there’s probably been a couple of times you’ve found yourself wishing you had access to a CD Burner at one point or another. Sure, it’s probably only a couple of times, but for some, it’s still a necessity.

Apple has placed its USB SuperDrive on sale over at Amazon. Normally weighing in at $79.00, you can now pick one up for $69.00.

I grabbed one. It may be a dying technology, but sadly my car only plays CDs at this point. It’s a lot cheaper to buy an external CD burner than it is a new car. For now.

The post Apple USB SuperDrive On Sale At Amazon appeared first on Macgasm.

We’ve seen a lot of iOS 7 concepts roll across our desks the last couple of weeks, but for the most part a lot of them are pipe dreams. Rarely has their been a concept that makes a lot little bit of sense when we place it against realistic practices at Apple. There’s no way we’re getting widgets. No one uses them.

Taking a flyer from other popular application updates that have flattened UI elements, Tim Green, of Divide by Enterproid, has built a pretty interesting alternative to the iOS Messages icon.

Green, in a post over on Medium:

I tried to apply the stylings and approaches that I discussed before and also made a simple change to pull the Label text down in boldness to Helvectica Neue Medium and up the font size to 26px to give it clearer counters and a smoother, more legible readability.

The Messages icon is the end result of Green’s study, but the information he presents along the way is worth reading and spending a moment or two thinking about, especially if you’re into iOS 7 conjecture.

Via Cult of Mac

The post What Happens When You Flatten The Messages Icon? This Happens appeared first on Macgasm.

It turns out that Apple’s innovative Smart Cover might be more dangerous than its colorful appearance would tell.

14 year old Gianna Chien has done a study proving that the smart cover’s built in magnets have a high risk of turning off implanted defibrillators for those with serious heart problems. If someone with one of these devices inside of them falls asleep with their iPad on their chest, it could potentially turn off their defibrillator, putting them at serious risk.

Read the full story at Bloomberg.

The post Turns Out The iPad’s Smart Cover Can Kill, Turns Off Implanted Defibrillators appeared first on Macgasm.

The security software Apple uses to protect its iPhones is good. Perhaps too good.

The devices are allegedly so hard to crack that police need to go to Apple themselves to retrieve information from them. Sometimes Apple can put these police on waiting lists that last for over a month until they can finally get the information they want.

Read the full story over at CNET.

The post Even Police Can’t Decrypt An iPhone Without Apple’s Help appeared first on Macgasm.

With WWDC quickly approaching, more and more iOS 7 concepts are popping up. The latest comes from Simply Zesty’s Art Director, Philip Joyce, who rounded up the latest iOS 7 rumors and put together a stunning visual concept of the best iOS 7 features.

There’s been a lot of debate about what direction Jony Ive will take with iOS 7, with many arguing he will do away with the traditional design elements of iOS and turn to a more modern and flat look. So what exactly does Ive have in mind? There’s no way to know until it officially launches, but Joyce’s concept definitely takes an interesting approach in trying to answer that question.

Joyce has given the app icons a complete makeover, getting rid of the gloss and sheen and turning to a flatter, cleaner and completely square look. He also included a widget-capable home-screen and completely redesigned core apps, including Calendar, Music, Siri, Facebook, and more.

The post Concept: Is This Close To What We Can Expect For iOS 7? appeared first on Macgasm.

While iTunes can still be used in “desktop” mode on Windows 8, Microsoft would really like Apple to come out with an official iTunes app for Windows 8. In an interview with CNN Money, Tami Reller, CFO of Microsoft’s Windows division, said that Microsoft has been trying to convince Apple to build an iTunes Windows 8 app, but it doesn’t look like it’ll happen “any time soon.”

“You shouldn’t expect an iTunes app on Windows 8 any time soon,” Reller explained. “iTunes is in high demand. The welcome mat has been laid out. It’s not for lack of trying.”

iTunes is one of the most searched for applications in the Windows Store, so it’s not surprising that Microsoft would like Apple to make one. So far, Apple has been willing to write some software for Windows, like iTunes, Safari, and Quicktime, but Apple’s footing in the tablet market is different than in the PC market. The iPad is the best-selling tablet out there right now, so there isn’t much incentive for Apple to release something that will make the Surface a better product.

Despite this one hole, the Windows app store is securing more and more apps with over 60,000 apps available to date. Users have downloaded about 250 million so far. The company hopes to have most of the popular apps for iOS available for Windows 8 in time for the next holiday season.

The post Microsoft: iTunes App For Windows 8 Probably Isn’t Happening appeared first on Macgasm.

The good news is that messaging app Line recently announced that it has passed 150 million users and Q1 2013 revenue of $58 million. The bad news is that today Apple has put an end to the feature that lets iPhone users purchase stickers to gift to friends. This feature alone earned Line $17 million during the first quarter.

According to Line’s blog, the company received a direct request from Apple asking for the sticker gifting function to be removed from the app.

Users will no longer be able to send stickers to others through iOS devices. The stickers were selling for $1.49-$1.99 per pack. This also puts an end to being able to buy Line Coins which were needed to use the gifting function. Gifting is still available on the Android version, and other versions of Line, and iOS users can still receive gifts from friends that use other platforms not part of iOS.

A huge portion of Line’s revenue came from these types of purchases. 30% of its revenue, or $17 million, came from sticker purchases during the past three months.

Line also let users know, while you can’t purchase stickers to send as gifts, you can still send free stickers as gifts to friends and even purchase stickers for yourself. Also, if you have more than 100 Coins left, you can still send stickers as gifts until all your Coins have been used up. If you only have 50 Coins, Line says to contact them and they’ll boost you to the necessary 100 Coins to purchase stickers.

Image Credit: PRNewswire

The post Apple Puts An End To Purchasing Sticker Gifts In Messaging App Line appeared first on Macgasm.

China is a highly valuable country for any company, especially when it comes to the smartphone market. China’s smartphone market has recently grown to three times the size of the U.S.’s, with Apple being one of the top 5 smartphone vendors in the country.

Apple has retaken its spot as the fifth largest smartphone vendor in the country, with the company now possessing 8% of the country’s smartphone market. Apple trails Samsung, the top vendor in the country, that has a 20% share. Between Samsung and Apple, there also sits Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific, Huawei, and Lenovo. Samsung and Apple are the only two non-Chinese companies to feature in the country’s top 10 smartphone vendors.

Apple had previously fallen to 6th spot in the country, but analyst Nicole Peng states that, “iPhone 5 sales, along with price cuts to older iPhone models, propelled the company’s smartphone shipments in China’s intensely competitive market.”

There seems to be a massive smartphone boom happening right now in China. In Q1 2012, U.S. vendors shipped roughly the same number of smartphones to China as it produced for America. Now, however, 82 million smartphones were shipped to China by U.S. vendors in Q1 of this year versus just 27 million that were shipped to the U.S.

If Apple wants to catch up to Samsung in this exploding market, the company will likely have to release a lower-cost iPhone to appease the region’s poorer residents. While people often think of how a lower-cost iPhone would succeed in the U.S., it’s really countries like China that Apple is after with such a product.

The post Apple’s Popularity Rising In China, Now 5th In Country’s Smartphone Market appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple is continually improving Apple Maps since its launch last year, and today has added 3D Flyover support to Paris, France. Until now, Lyon was the only French city that had Flyover support, but now Paris is joining the club.

According to igen.fr, Apple has done a great job of the Flyover view of Paris and includes coverage of not only streets in Paris, but also covers areas like Versailles, Aulnay-sous-Bois, Disneyland Paris and L’Hay-les-Roses.

Apple’s 3D Flyover feature first arrived with the introduction of iOS 6 last September. Initially it launched support for just a few cities, but Apple has been adding more and more cities and countries for the past eight months.

Apple has added support for over 16 cities since January, including Portland, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Tulsa and Stockton, and continues to roll out updates to improve Apple Maps as a whole.

The post Apple Adds 3D Flyover Coverage In Maps For France appeared first on Macgasm.

Pegatron, one of Apple’s major iPhone and iPad assemblers, has said it will be increasing the number of its workers in China by up to 40% in the second half of this year. This really adds fuel to the already blazing fire that says Apple is working on a cheaper iPhone model.

Pegatron currently employs 100,000 workers, so adding another 40,000 workers is no small task. Apple suppliers have reportedly told Reuters that Apple is, in fact, developing a cheaper model iPhone to reach lower-income buyers in growth markets like China and India. One source even revealed that a small-scale production of the display panel for the model would start in May, with production really picking up in June.

The cheaper iPhone model is expected to launch in the third quarter and Pegatron’s Chief Financial Officer, Charles Lin, told Reuters that 60% of the company’s 2013 revenue would come from the second half of the year.

Lin didn’t comment any further and didn’t say if the cheaper iPhone will be one of the products that Pegatron will make in the second half.

It’s still unclear what exactly a cheaper iPhone model will include, but rumors have suggested a range of colorful plastic casings. The device is expected to go for somewhere between $200-$500 for an unlocked device.

Image Credit: Mashable

The post Apple Supplier Increasing Workers By 40%, Fuels Rumors Of Cheaper iPhone appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple wants Google to hand over documents relating to Android that will help it in its case against Samsung. Apple, which is in a patent-infringement lawsuit with Samsung, claims that Android “provides much of the accused functionality” of Samsung’s infringing products and that doing a thorough search of these documents is essential to proving Samsung is intentionally infringing on its patents.

Lawyers for Samsung argue that Apple intentionally left Google out of its lawsuit and only targeted Samsung as Google doesn’t have as many rights when its a third party to the trial, and thus there’s more of a chance that the company will be forced to hand over the documents that Apple is after.

“It’s a question of transparency,” Mark Lyon, a lawyer for Apple, told Grewal yesterday, referring to the documents. “We have concerns that they’re not doing a full search,” Bloomberg reports.

Samsung and Google are concerned that Apple will find information that can hint at future Android products or updates that will give them an unfair competitive edge. Apple claims that it is simply trying to protect its patents from Samsung.

This is the second major patent case between the two companies. Apple won the first one and Samsung was forced to pay Apple $639 million in damages.

Don’t think it’s the last one, however, as It is fair to expect back and forth patent wars between these two companies until the end of time.

Image Credit: Extreme Tech

The post Apple Goes After Android Source Code With Lawsuit appeared first on Macgasm.

In line with reports from yesterday that said Sharp would begin mass production of the iPhone 5S display in June, Apple is reportedly on track to start production of multiple iPhone models in the June-July period, according to Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty.

Huberty believes Apple’s new iPhone models will launch in September, which she has determined from her meetings in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Her report definitely lines up with rumors that Sharp would begin mass production of the iPhone 5S LCD displays in June.

Along with the next-generation iPhone, Apple is also rumored to be developing a new lower-cost iPhone that would target consumers who prefer not to go the way of carrier contract subsidies. Huberty also said that Apple could see strong sales of the lower-cost iPhone in China.

As for the iPhone 5, Huberty learned that iPhone 5 shipments are in line with expectations, which is different from a few months ago when it was rumored that Apple was cutting orders of the iPhone 5. This prompted CEO Tim Cook to publicly shoot these rumors down.

“After a slow start, iPhone 5, is now on track to meet carrier volume expectations and iPhone 4 price cuts could stimulate incremental demand near-term. Carriers see the opportunity for Apple to expand market coverage with 5-inch and lower priced iPhones over time. TD-LTE licenses, and related phone launches, are expected by year-end,” Huberty explained in her note.

The post Analyst: Apple On Target To Begin Production Of Multiple iPhone Models In June-July appeared first on Macgasm.

As WWDC and the unveiling of Apple’s iOS 7 draw closer, it is likely that Apple is ramping up testing of its upcoming OS to ensure that it is ready to be shown off to developers and the public. Several sites have now been getting a significant increase in traffic from devices running iOS 7, with these devices originating from Apple’s set of IPs.

Apple news site MacRumors and mobile site creator Onswipe both reported seeing massive spikes in iOS 7 usage from users visiting their sites. Onswipe claims that on May 2, 23% of all iOS visitors to its sites were running iOS 7, with the majority of these visitors being from Cupertino or San Francisco. It reports that this is the largest amount of iOS 7 traffic its sites have ever gotten. Out of that 23%, 3/4 of users were using iPhones, while the other 1/4 were on iPads.

Popular pages that were visited by iOS 7 users included things such as news about Apple’s stock and information regarding Kid Cudi’s next album.

For us simple folk who don’t work for Apple, we’ll have to wait until June’s WWDC to see all the cool new features that these testers are using right now.

The post Apple Ramps Up Testing Of iOS 7 Web Traffic Shows appeared first on Macgasm.

If there’s one thing Samsung loves doing, it’s bashing Apple and Apple fans, so it’s only fitting that its S Voice assistant is programmed to throw a few punches as well. When asked if it’s ever used an iPhone, the S Voice assistant responds with a biting remark: “No, I have standards.”

Even though it takes a shot at Apple, the S Voice assistant can’t help but admit that it also likes to think of itself as Siri. When asked, “Are you Siri” the response is, funnily enough, “I like to think I am.”

According to Android Central, the S Voice gives these responses on the Galaxy S4 and varying results to these questions might be seen on other Samsung smartphones.

S Voice is Samsung’s equivalent to Apple’s Siri, and first launched last year with the Galaxy S III, just a few months after Siri arrived on the iPhone 4S. Both assistants offer similar functions, like being able to ask questions, set reminders, and make phone calls.

The post Samsung S Voice Secretly Wishes It Was Siri appeared first on Macgasm.

With the release of the iPhone 5, some Apple fans are starting to get concerned with where Apple goes next with its smartphone. With the phone’s size and display being arguably almost perfect, there doesn’t seem like there’s much the company can change in the upcoming versions. That’s why former Apple advertising expert Ken Segall predicts that it is time for the iPhone to follow the path that was set out for it by the iPod.

Segall, who used to work for Apple overseeing the company’s marketing efforts, says that its now time for the iPhone to follow the same product cycle that the iPod went through. In his most recent post on his blog, he writes:

“Back when the very first iPhone was about to launch, it was assumed by many inside Apple that iPhone would follow the path of iPod before it. The first year or two would be devoted to evolving and perfecting the device — and then the iPhone line would be expanded to address various types of customers.

iPod’s biggest years came after it had expanded into a family of products.

Given that history, and given the growing demand for certain variations on the theme, there’s a good chance that the next iPhone will actually be a family of iPhones.”

Segall goes on to list a few iPhone variants that he thinks Apple might soon decide to launch.

The first is the iPhone Mini, targeted to be a lower-cost iPhone. The device wouldn’t be cheap by any means, but it would feature things such as a plastic case and an iPhone 4 sized screen to help significantly reduce costs.

The second is a line of colorful iPhones. Whether this comes with the iPhone 5s, or the lower-cost iPhone, the phones will come in a variety of different colors that help customers add more personality to their device. “Color is personal, and our phones are more personal than iPod ever was. Color will make the new iPhone instantly recognizable as something new.”

The third is an “iPhone Max.” This would be a phone to rival devices like Samsung’s Galaxy S4, which captures a market of consumers looking for a massive vibrant screen.

“The smartphone audience has grown exponentially in recent years,” says Segall. “The simple reality is that different people have different needs. Creating a family of devices would widen iPhone’s appeal as it squelches the perception that Apple is somehow losing touch.”

As long as I can get a low-cost neon pink iPhone Max, I’ll be happy.

The post Ex-Apple Marketing Wizard Predicts iPhone Is Set To Get iPod-ified appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple recently pulled a couple of apps from the App Store for violating clause 2.25, which prohibits any app from replicating the App Store’s functionality by promoting or offering any apps for purchase other than your own, including AppShopper (which has since returned) and AppGratis. According to PocketGamer, Apple is expanding this clause to reject any app that offers app search features from third-party apps.

Apple will also reject apps that encourage recommendation sharing. One developer whose app did just that, told PocketGamer of their app being rejected for featuring “filtering, bookmarking, searching, or sharing recommendations.”

“We thought that basing our recommendations on sharing was suitable for Apple, as it has previously stated that if you bake in social of local into your app discovery, you would be fine., the anonymous developer explained. “I think they aim to be the only provider of recommendations for apps, along with being the distributor.”

The developer of the rejected app received an e-mail from Apple that explained why it was rejected. Apple explained that apps that “include bookmarking, searching, or sharing recommendations are not considered as significantly different from the App Store.” However, none of these features are included in App Store regulation 2.25, which previously resulted in AppShopper and AppGratis getting the boot.

The clause states:

2.25 Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected.

It’s not really clear why Apple has expanded this rule, especially when these types of apps could also serve to promote Apple’s own apps. Whatever the case, it’s sending a confusing message to developers, especially when they make a point of trying to comply with App Store rules.

The post Apple Getting Stricter About App Store Rules And Apps That Recommend And Share Other Apps appeared first on Macgasm.

Fortune Magazine came out with its Fortune 500 list for 2012 today, a list that ranks the top 500 U.S. corporations based on their annual gross revenue. The famous listing reveals Apple to have jumped several spots this year, with the Cupertino company having gone from 11th to 6th spot, the first time the company has ever been in the list’s top 10.

Apple is joined by giants such as the likes of Walmart in 1st and Exxon Mobil in 2nd. Microsoft also came in at 35th and Facebook made it onto the list for the very first time at 482nd place.

Apple still has a long way to go if it wants to catch Walmart. Walmart’s revenues for the year sat at a massive $469 billion, while Apple’s revenues only hit $156 billion. Apple still has the upper hand when it comes to profit though, as the company raked in over $41 billion in profit in 2012, second only to Exxon mobil with $44 billion.

Fortune’s list is a pretty good indicator as to how well a company is doing, with only the world’s most successful companies being able to break into the top 10. As Apple’s stock prices remain low and with some analysts questioning Tim Cook’s ability to launch new products and run the company, it will be interesting to see if Apple will be able to hold the position in the coming years.

The post Apple Hits Fortune 500 Top 10 For Very First Time appeared first on Macgasm.

Chat applications have undergone a huge transition over the last decade. We’ve gone from AIM and MSN to Facebook Chat, Gtalk, and Skype. The one thing that hasn’t seemed to change all that much, excluding Facebook, is how these applications look and feel. When it comes to the Mac, we’ve got two options: Adium and Messages. One of them is hard to look at and the other is hard to use because it hardly works properly.

Dawid Liberadzki and Oskar Krawczyk got sick of how Adium looks and feels and decided to do something about it. From the sounds of it, they feel the same way that I do:

Messages, looks great but is just a ridiculous bug–fest. Hardly anything works as it should. The latter, works fantastic, but looks like it just DeLorean-time-jumped from the early 2000’s – with no disrespect to the Adium team, I have a lot of respect for them.

With that in mind, the team of two put together an awesome concept for Adium, and from the sounds of it, they’re looking to give away their designs to make it a reality.

Honestly, something has to happen. Messages needs a serious ass-kicking. My messages have rarely synced properly between my iOS devices and OS X. It’s frustrating.

Anyway, it’s worth clicking through to check out the concept.

The post Adium Concept Looks To Reinvent Chatting On The Mac appeared first on Macgasm.

It’s been a while since I’ve picked up an Android phone, and I’ve been thinking about picking one up to play with. If I end up pulling the trigger, it’ll be the HTC One. It’s probably the best designed phone on the market not named iPhone, although the Z10 looks pretty great too.

The post HTC Goes All Apple And Shows Off HTC Design Process With Video appeared first on Macgasm.

Buying a printer with AirPrint support is pretty easy when you’re setting up a home network for the first time. You have limited options, but you can quickly get a printer onto your network. It’s not so easy when you work in a large office that already has printers that are bigger, better, and way too expensive to replace with consumer level offerings. Ecamm has built Printopia to help convert normal printers into AirPrint-capable devices. Printopia Pro, much like its consumer counterpart, turns a Mac into a print server, but it also add quite a bit more functionality.

Why go Pro? From Ecamm’s press release:

Printopia Pro unleashes “unicast” Bonjour, empowering it to operate across network segments without restriction. It requires no changes to the existing network topology. This greatly simplifies the task of enabling AirPrint across an organization, and frees administrators from having to modify the network architecture or purchase additional hardware to get AirPrint deployed. It also reduces the amount of multicast traffic over a wireless network, which can boost overall wireless throughput.

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve owned a printer, but the last time I did I ran Printopia. It makes printing from iOS a snap, and it’s worth every penny. I know a few Apple-only shops around town that will be plenty interested in the Pro offering.

The post Printopia Goes Pro, Takes On Enterprise iOS Printing appeared first on Macgasm.

American Airlines announced yesterday that it will be making iPads available to all its pilots, in an attempt to improve productivity and to decrease injury and cost. The iPads will replace the 40 pound flight bags that each pilot is currently required to have on his/her flight.

The 40 pound bags contain over 3,000 pages of charts and manuals that pilots must occasionally reference. American Airlines will now transfer all of this information over to an iPad app that its pilots will be able to access, dropping the information’s weight from 40 pounds of paper to a mere 1.44 pounds of digital information.

Certain pilots have already been using iPads since American Airlines began selectively distributing them last year, however, the company says that by the end of this May all of its pilots will be able to make the switch to iPad.

Patrick O’Keeffe, American Airlines’ VP of Airline Operations Technology, revealed that carrying and moving the 40 pound bags was the most common cause of injury amongst the company’s pilots. He also revealed that the company will save over $1 million in gas costs as well as in paper costs by no longer having to print revisions. The information on the iPad can be easily updated for free.

American Airlines also distributes Galaxy Note tablets to each and every one of its employees, as all 16,000 employees worldwide currently have the Samsung tablet. The Galaxy Note is used by flight attendants to help manage things such as food service, seating, gate information etc…

As long as the pilots don’t get sidetracked playing Temple Run, this sounds like a great improvement for the company.

The post American Airlines Switches Its 8,600 Pilots From 40 Pound Kit Bags To iPads appeared first on Macgasm.

Since he was given his new responsibilities of overseeing user interface design for Apple, many have wondered how much of an impact Jonathan Ive would have on future versions of iOS. Rumors came out in the past that Ive was working on bringing a “flatter” more modern look to iOS 7. It seems like this major effort to redesigning iOS might even delay its launch.

Bloomberg reports that Apple’s internal deadlines have been pushed back in order to incorporate Ive’s changes and to get a preview build ready for June’s WWDC, with Apple’s goal of having the full version into consumers’ hands by as early as September.

Ive is also reportedly trying to revamp a number of Apple’s apps, including dramatic changes to both E-Mail and Calendar.

Ive, 46, has begun revamping iPhone and iPad applications, shunning realistic images, such as wood bookshelves for the Newsstand feature, and he’s exploring more dramatic changes to the e-mail and calendar tools, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private.

Bloomberg’s report also backs up a previous report by Daring Fireball that says Apple employees who already have their hands on iOS 7 and are using it in public are required to put a special film over their screens to help prevent others from seeing it as the UI changes are so apparent.

Jony Ive has been recognized time after time as one of the world’s most brilliant creative minds, and it should be exciting to see what sort of impact he’s been able to have on the OS.

Time to start counting down the days ’til WWDC.

The post iOS 7 May See Delay Due To Jony Ive’s Design Changes appeared first on Macgasm.

Last week Tim Cook decided to auction off 30 minutes to one hour of his time for charity. The estimated value for this coffee date was $50,000, but it only took a few days for the bidding to reach over $500,000. Then yesterday the bidding reached $605,000, but this was quickly retracted back down to $600,000. The reason? The $605,000 bid was made with a stolen credit card.

The site holding the auction, CharityBuzz, explained that the issue was recognized right away and the bid was quickly retracted. This is great news for the actual card owner since, oddly, not everyone might be willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a coffee with Tim Cook.

The meeting with Cook will take place at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, with the money from the auction benefiting the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. There are still 13 days left in the auction, so it’ll be interesting to see just how how the bidding will go in the next two weeks. We’re guessing a cool million dollars.

Image Credit: GdeFon

The post Coffee With Tim Cook Charity Auction Hit With Credit Card Fraud appeared first on Macgasm.

Looks like you can now tweet pictures of your dinner without ever having to put the fork down. According to Loic Le Meur, man once behind Seesmic and now Le Web, there’s a native Twitter application for Google Glass.

From CNET:

Though the tweet contained no information about the app used to create it, Le Meur responded “Yes” when asked by CNET if he had used Twitter’s Glass app.

Twitter had no comment about whether it has created an app for Glass.

All food-stuff kidding aside, having a heads up Twitter display could quickly become a journalists best friend. So long secondary monitor for tweet streams, hello Google Glass. Personally I’d prefer the Mac Monocle, but beggars can’t be choosers at this point.

The post Google Glass Now Has A Native Twitter App appeared first on Macgasm.

As it turns out, no phones were harmed during the filming of this video. Wait. What?

Seriously Square Trade, where’s the fire? Maybe we should start a kickstarter campaign to get Michael Bay to do torture test videos.

Oh, and PSA… Don’t try this shit at home. No, we’re not paying for your broken phone, so don’t start sending emails.

The post Worst. Torture. Test. Video. Ever. appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple loves Walt Mossberg. It should, then, come as no surprise that Tim Cook will be kicking off the D: All Things Digital conference again this year after doing so last year, and just like Steve Jobs did before him.

From All Things D:

It will be interesting to talk about the changes at Apple under Cook’s leadership, who took over from the late co-founder and industry legend Steve Jobs. We will also be inquiring about what new products are in the pipeline and how the company is faring in an increasingly high-pressure market.

The conference kicks off on May 28th, and will feature live interviews with a number of tech executives including, “Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Motorola Mobility’s Dennis Woodside, Pinterest’s Ben Silbermann, Jeff Immelt of GE, new Android chief Sundar Pichai, Sony’s Kaz Hirai, and ABC’s Anne Sweeney.”

There’s plenty of insight tossed out during this conference from tech executives. It’s worth putting it into your calendar and catching the videos online once they’re available.

The post Tim Cook, As Expected, To Kick Off All Things D Conference appeared first on Macgasm.

Path, already on the hook for an 800,000 dollar fine from the FTC, is back on the hot seat again today for allegedly spamming people’s friends and family by pilfering address books and sending text messages to unsuspecting people, requesting that they sign up to view shared photos.

Steven Kenwright installed the app, apparently opted out of letting people know he was using it, uninstalled the app, and then noticed Path started spamming people for signup requests.

At some point along the broken-down path between Path and its users, the company has been accidentally sending text messages to home phones and letting people know that friends have photos that they would like to share, then prompts you to download the application.

Thing is, a Path spokesman says it’s a user error, and a result of improperly directing the application to stop inviting your friends.

Kenwright laments:

Path has called two plumbers; an electrician; a dentist; my girlfriend’s grandparents and a local takeaway, letting them know I have photos that they should probably see (I don’t have photos for them).

Fool me once. Fool me twice. Fool me three times? Not so fast.

Thing is, there’s plenty of people having similar problems, and most tech blogs reporting on this incident have been reporting that journalists were aware of this bug for a while. If that’s true, why hasn’t anything been done yet?

It’s probably just a “coding” glitch, but it’s hard to look the other way when the company has been in the press for privacy problems over and over again lately.

The post Path On The Privacy Hotseat Again, Blames User Error appeared first on Macgasm.

With Apple’s 11th German store set to open May 3, construction on the Berlin location is now complete and we can finally get a good glance at what the Apple Store will look like.

The store is certainly one of Apple’s more visually striking locations, with an elegant looking design that matches the brick buildings on the rich Berlin shopping street of Ku’damm. Apple has gone for a minimalistic look, with just two small square Apple logos on either side of the store’s massive entrance to let you know that it is in-fact an Apple store.

Apple has also chosen to showcase some interesting modern art pieces in front of the store that show off the company’s iPhone 5. This further helps draw the attention of shoppers over to see Apple’s products and helps ensure that people know that it is in fact an Apple store.

Prior to the arrival of the Apple Store, the location used to house a movie theater.

The store’s hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, with the store closed for Sundays. The grand opening is set for this Friday, May 3.

It’s certainly interesting to see what Apple can do with its Apple Stores when it goes for something different than the typical aluminum look.

Image Credit: apfelpage

The post See The Beautiful New Berlin Apple Store appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has been slowly trying to get iOS more integrated into the cars of consumers, and with iOS 7, it seems like the company plans to make a significant push towards this goal.

Sources have told 9to5Mac that Apple plans to bring further Apple Maps and Siri integration into cars and that the company is currently in talks with several auto manufacturers to try and secure these deals. Apple is reportedly working on a new feature with car companies that will allow you to dock your iPhone and then have an enhanced version of Apple Maps pop-up onto a larger display within the car.

Currently, if people want to use their iPhone as a GPS in their car, they have to put it on a dock and look at the iPhone’s small screen. Apple wants to make it so that Maps can be easily mirrored over to a larger GPS display within the car.

All of this, will be controllable through Siri using the “eyes-free” feature that allows you to use Siri in your car without touching or unlocking your phone.

9to5Mac states that due to a number of reasons including numerous contracts with car companies and more required updates to Siri and Maps, it still may be sometime until these new integration features actually become available. Regardless of this, iOS 7 will still get the features ready on the phone side of things for when that time comes.

The post iOS 7 Will Bring Enhancements To Car Integration appeared first on Macgasm.

The original iPhone, which first launched in 2007, will soon reach “obsolete” status at Apple retail stores, which means that it will no longer be eligible for repairs or parts replacements even if the customers pays for it. The original iPhone will reportedly reach this status on June 11, 2013. You better get that puppy fixed if you’re having problems with it still.

The iPhone, along with a number of different Macs like the 2006 Xserve, mid-2007 iMacs and the original Mac Pro, will officially be classified as vintage and obsolete by Apple. A product is considered obsolete when it has been discontinued more than seven years ago and will no longer be supported. AT&T was ahead of the game on this one when, 18 months ago, it stopped activating the original iPhone.

If you’re interested, you can check out Apple’s support page to learn more about vintage and obsolete products. In the meantime, start saying your goodbyes to the original iPhone.

Image Credit: TechRadar

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Continuing to fill its warehouse full of awards, Apple’s iPad has been named the winner of the J.D. Power and Associates satisfaction survey for the second year in a row. The tablets were evaluated based on style and design, ease of use, performance, features and cost.

The award is given out by J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing research firm that produces highly valued customer satisfaction surveys in a variety of different product markets. This is just the second year that the firm has done an award for tablets, so the iPad has maintained its flawless record in the category.

All the tablets that get evaluated are given a score between 1 and 1000 to give a quick glance at how good the product is. The iPad managed to get 836 points out of 1000 while the Kindle Fire came in second with 829. The iPad was also the only tablet that was considered to be “among the best” in all five of the categories that J.D. Power looked at.

This comes a couple months after Apple’s iPhone won J.D. Power’s satisfaction award for phones. The award marked the ninth consecutive time that the iPhone took home the prize. Apple is so proud of this feat that it even has a whole blurb about it on its site.

Long story short, the iPad is pretty good. You should probably buy one.

The post iPad Wins Second Straight Customer Satisfaction Award For Tablets appeared first on Macgasm.

With WWDC fast approaching, many are speculating as to what features Apple will announce for the company’s new version of OS X. 9to5Mac is reporting from anonymous sources that the update will bring fullscreen multi-monitor support to the OS as well as a number of other features designed for power users.

The multi-monitor improvements will provide users with the ability to run full-screen apps on one monitor while still being able to access other full-screen apps or parts of the desktop on the other, something that currently hasn’t been possible. This is a feature that power users have long-awaited for and will be glad to finally see arrive on OS X.

Professionals will actually have a lot to be happy about, as the report says, the majority of the update will be towards improving the experience for power users. These improvements will include various enhancements to the Finder application and a much faster and more stable Safari.

10.9 may also bring more iOS inspired features over to the Mac, with rumors that there will be a sort of quick-app-switcher that will help with multitasking and conserving the computer’s battery life.

There are also rumors that Siri may make its way over to Mac with the update.

Look for an in-depth showcase of the new OS at June’s WWDC.

The post OS X 10.9 To Bring Good Multi-Monitor Support, Power User Features appeared first on Macgasm.

If you’re paranoid about your applications phoning home without your permission, chances are you’ve heard about Little Snitch before. A brand new update from the company behind the application has enabled Automatic Profile Switching.

From the Little Snitch blog:

When you join a Wi-Fi network, plug in an Ethernet cable, or connect to a VPN, it basically does what it says on the box: it automatically switches to a certain profile … It’s good practice to keep an “Untrusted” profile with just a few general “deny” or “ask” rules in it around.

The short of it is that the application lets you determine which of your apps can gain access to your network and internet connection on a case by case basis. The Automatic Profile Switching goes one step further and lets you set up various access controls based on your location or network connection profiles. If you’re on a public Wi-Fi you can set Little Snitch to be more aggressive with your blocking than when you’re at home or in other trusted environments.

If you’re on the go a lot, Little Snitch is a handy tool to have at your disposal. You never know who’s listening in on the Starbucks Wi-Fi these days.

The post Little Snitch Gets Automatic Profile Updating appeared first on Macgasm.

Two minutes into going live, WWDC sold out. That’s prompted a number of high-profile developers to question whether or not WWDC needs to be cancelled, or even repurposed to meet the massive demand for access to Apple Engineers.

Apple seems to be listening, and has published an article on its developer page stating that it will be hitting the road this fall (emphasis ours):

Enthusiasm for WWDC 2013 has been incredible, with tickets selling out in record time. For those who can’t join us in San Francisco, you can still take advantage of great WWDC content, as we’ll be posting videos of all our sessions during the conference. We’ll also be hitting the road this fall with Tech Talks in a city near you. Hope to see you there.

Google live streams its I/O conference as it’s unfolding, and that’s something many would like to see Apple do this time around, but a mini, traveling WWDC-like conference would be a lot more successful if they can pull it off. Live streams are great, but nothing beats being able to speak directly to an engineer in person.

The post Apple To Bring WWDC Mini On The Road With ‘Tech Talks’ appeared first on Macgasm.

In this week’s App Store refresh Apple included a new featured page that helps App Store users “learn more about in-app purchases.” With the number of reports of children accidently spending a small fortune on in-app purchases, Apple has kindly provided a guide for users, and parents, to learn more about what in-app purchases are, how they work, and how to prevent your kids from spending all your money on them without permission.

This featured guide can be found just underneath the What’s Hot section on the App Store. In-app purchases have become a major thorn in a few parents’ side lately. They can be especially problematic when you don’t really know what they are or how they work.

In January, a five-year-old boy unknowingly spent $2,550 on iTunes in just ten minutes after buying content within a game on the iPad. Apple chose to give this family a full refund. Not long after, a British policeman reported his thirteen-year-old son to try and reclaim the $5,620 iTunes bill he received after his son spent it on more than 300 in-app purchases in an iOS game.

Apple is looking to prevent more situations like this from happening by education users and parents about in-app purchases. The final section of the guide looks at parental controls and how parents can restrict their child’s ability to make in-app purchases on an iOS device.

Just last-month, Apple also added new “Offers In-App Purchases” badges to label apps and make users more aware.

The post Apple Adds New Page To App Store To Help You “Learn More About In-App Purchases” appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple released a new TV ad for the iPhone, this time showing off its camera capabilities and what makes using it so great. The ad does this with hardly having to say a word.

With music playing in the background, the ad follows people at different points throughout their day at a moment when they use their iPhone. It really shows off the portability and convenience of the iPhone camera, whether it’s pulling it out of your pocket to get a shot of the sunrise during your morning jog or when you see rainbow colors in a puddle.

The ad ends with the words, “Everyday more photos are taken with the iPhone than any other camera.” More and more the iPhone is becoming the camera of choice among users. According to Flickr, the iPhone 4S, 5, and 4 are ranked as the top three most popular cameras used to post photos to Flickr, ahead of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Canon EOS 7D.

This is definitely one of Apple’s better ads. You can watch the it above.

The post New iPhone Ad Shows Off What Makes Your iPhone Camera Great appeared first on Macgasm.

Last year developers had half a day to get their WWDC ticket purchases in before the conference sold out, this year tickets sold out in just two paltry minutes. Apple restrictions limited sales to one per person and five tickets per organization. Tickets cost $1,599.00. It doesn’t really matter though, they’re already gone.

From TechCrunch:

Apple’s tickets sold out 95 percent faster than Google’s tickets for its own annual I/O developer conference, which is taking place May 15 — 17 this year, and which took 49 minutes to sell out. I/O 2012 tickets sold out in just 30 minutes, however, as things took longer this time because of a general inability to complete the check-out process for a large percentage of users early on.

Tickets went on sale today at 10 AM Pacific. If you missed that news yesterday, you’re out of luck. Thankfully Apple will be making conference videos available during the conference this year so developers can check-in and get up to date without delay.

WWDC will take place between June 10-14 this year. Apple plans to show off iOS 7, and a future version of OS X.

The post WWDC Tickets Sell Out In Less Than Two Minutes appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has been ordered by a court in China to pay three Chinese writers as compensation for infringing on their copyright after making their books available on the App Store without first asking permission. The books were reportedly uploaded by a third party and sold without proceeds going to the authors or their publishers.

While Apple didn’t publish the books itself, the company is still being held responsible because it didn’t follow current laws and ask permission to publish the books from the original authors.  As a result, Apple has been ordered to pay $118,000 for the infringement.

Feng Gang, the judge presiding over the case, said that Apple should have known that the uploaded books violate the writers’ copyright.

“The writers involved this time include Mai Jia, whose books are often on best-seller lists across the country,” he explained. “In this way, Apple has the capability to know the uploaded books on its online store violated the writer’s copyright.”

This isn’t the first time that Apple has had legal trouble concerning copyright issues in China and this is actually the second group of lawsuits filed against Apple by the Writers’ Right Protection Union.

Feng stressed that other technology companies should learn from Apple’s case and adjust verification systems accordingly in order to avoid facing similar fines in the future.

The lawyer who represented the writers in this case, Wang Guohua, told the China Daily that it was happy with the verdict of the case, which resulted in more compensation than most copyright infringement cases.

Also, LAWL Chinese Copyright.

Image Credit: Digital Reader News

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Just yesterday Apple announced that WWDC 2013 would kick off on June 10-14, with tickets going on sale later today. The company also confirmed that new versions of both iOS and OS X would be unveiled at the event. While we all wait on the edge of our seats to see what Apple has planned, here’s a new iOS 7 concept that shows off what apps could look like, but probably not.

Many are wondering what kinds of changes could be in store for the newest version of iOS, especially with Jonathan Ive taking the lead instead of Scott Forstall. This iOS 7 concept is really based on Ive’s simplistic design style, as well as many other concepts and rumors that have been swirling around about iOS 7. It was made by Brazilian Rafael Justino and really “focuses on the refurbishment of some applications which are with the outdated design of its interface.”

The concept features improvements to Compass, Voice Memos, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Notification Center, and Lock Screen.

There’s been a few other iOS 7 concept videos lately, and it’s pretty obvious that a massive redesign for iOS 7 is something that has caught the publics attention.

Is it June yet? In the meantime. check out the latest iOS 7 concept in the video above.

Image Credit: IntoMobile

The post New iOS 7 Concept Shows Off What Apps Could Look Like appeared first on Macgasm.

Whether you’ve been wanting to pitch a great idea to Tim Cook, or whether you just want to enjoy a nice latte with the Apple CEO, or whether you just want to admire the man’s good looks, you might now have your chance. That is, if you’re willing to pay a small one time sum of $50,000.

CharityBuzz.com is holding a charity auction that lets one lucky winner and one guest of their choosing have a 30 min to 1 hour coffee date with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.

The current bid for the outing sits at $10,500 after just a few hours of being posted. The site, however, lists the estimated value of the date at a whopping $50,000. The auction is set to stay open until May 20, so it seems likely that the top bid will either hit or pass that estimated cost.

The proceeds of the auction will go to the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights. A fitting choice for a CEO who has tried to make an effort to improve working conditions at Apple’s Chinese factories.

If you’ve got an extra several thousand dollars to spend on what is likely some average tasting coffee, check out the auction page here.

The post Have A Coffee With Apple CEO Tim Cook For Just $50,000 appeared first on Macgasm.

The tenth anniversary of Apple’s iTunes service is coming up on April 28 and to commemorate the event Apple has posted a new iTunes Store feature called “A Decade of iTunes.” The feature is an interactive timeline on the iTunes Store and features milestones for the iTunes Store by year, including song downloads, iPod hardware, and musical touchstones.

“A Decade of iTunes” walks you through the past ten years and all the important events that took place on iTunes, starting with the launch day when U2′s “Stuck in a Momdent” and Beck’s “Sea Change” topped the sales list and finishing off with the release of Justin Timberlake’s newest album, “The 20/20 Experience,” which set a new worldwide record for album sales in its first week.

Each year features a list of hardware announcements, beginning with the third-generation iPod touch, which launched the same year as the iTunes Store. Each year also lists the top-selling songs and albums on iTunes for that year.

With 2013 only having just kicked off, it’s a pretty short list, but includes major milestones like the 40 billionth app downloaded from the App Store, 25 billion songs sold though iTunes, and 1 billion courses downloaded from iTunes U.

The iTunes Store has definitely made its mark over the years. It’s now available in 119 countries, following its major expansion last December. Take a few minutes to check out “A Decade of iTunes,” if for nothing more than to reminisce over those songs you used to love but have since forgotten.

The post Apple Celebrates iTunes’ 10th Anniversary With “A Decade Of iTunes” Milestone Timeline Feature appeared first on Macgasm.

While we all assumed we would be seeing a new version of Apple’s operating systems at WWDC, we didn’t expect to see Apple actually confirm it.

Apple announced today in a press release that new versions of both iOS and OS X will be unveiled at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10 in San Francisco. ” We can’t wait to get new versions of iOS and OS X into their hands at WWDC,” said Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller. Apple has traditionally unveiled its new operating systems at the conference in the past, so this news doesn’t come as much of a big surprise.

The conference lasts five days and is designed to teach developers for iOS and OS X cool and better ways to do their apps. Developers can buy tickets for the event starting tomorrow from the Apple’s online store for $1,599 USD a pop.

This year’s WWDC activities include:

* More than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers on a wide range of topics for developing, deploying and integrating the latest iOS and OS X technologies;
* more than 1,000 Apple engineers supporting over 100 hands-on labs and events to provide developers with code-level assistance, insight into optimal development techniques and guidance on how they can make the most of iOS and OS X technologies in their apps;
* the latest innovations, features and capabilities of iOS and OS X, and how to enhance an app’s functionality, performance, quality and design;
* the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iOS and OS X developers from around the world—last year more than 60 countries were represented;
* engaging and inspirational lunchtime sessions with leading minds and influencers from the worlds of technology, science and entertainment; and
* Apple Design Awards which recognize iPhone®, iPad® and Mac apps that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation and outstanding design.

Set your calendars for June 10 to see what Apple has in store for iOS and OS X.

The post Apple Confirms We Will See A New Version Of iOS and OS X At WWDC appeared first on Macgasm.

About a month ago, Yahoo! acquired the popular news-summarizing app Summly for $30 million and now it looks like Google has acquired a similar app, Wavii, for the same amount, after competing in a bidding war with Apple for the app.

Apple was reportedly interested in the company, which developed its own aggregation technology and natural summarization algorithms, for Siri. Instead, the 25-person team, including founder Adrian Aoun, will be moving down from Seattle to join Google’s Knowledge Graph division, its semantic search knowledge base, in Mountain View, California.

Bringing Wavii on board to Google Knowledge could help it further contextualize the information that Google already shows on the sidebar of most searches. It could be used in a number of different areas of Google as well though, like Google Now which is the Android version of Siri, and possibly Google News.

When Summly was acquired by Yahoo! the app was immediately pulled from the App Store, while its core features were eventually added to Yahoo!’s official iOS app. Wavii is still available on the App Store at this point, so if you want to give it a try is a free download.

You can follow news on Wavii, just like you follow friends on Facebook or Twitter and it will give you quick status updates for any topic.  You can also personalize your news feed so you only get updates on what you’re interested in, and then share your comments and reactions to news with friends.

Image Credit: Mac Rumors

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Apple just released the official announcement for the 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference. The event will take place on June 10-14, with tickets going on sale on April 25 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Tickets will go on sale at 10 AM PT (1 PM ET) on Thursday April 25, which is tomorrow. Tickets usually sell out pretty fast so don’t dawdle if you’re wanting to get your hands on a ticket or two. Last year they sold out in only two hours.

WWDC usually includes in-person presentations by over 1,000 Apple engineers, including both iOS and Mac OS X developers. The event will also take place at San Francisco’s Moscone West convention center.

“We look forward to gathering at WWDC 2013 with the incredible community of iOS and OS X developers,” said Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Our developers have had the most prolific and profitable year ever, and we’re excited to show them the latest advances in software technologies and developer tools to help them create innovative new apps. We can’t wait to get new versions of iOS and OS X into their hands at WWDC.”

Like we said, better get clearance from your boss before tomorrow, because these things will be going quick.

The post WWDC 2013 Announced For June 10-14, Tickets Go On Sale April 25 At 10AM PT appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple’s own App Store app for iPhone has received a new update, bringing it to version 2.6. This update introduces push notifications for delivery updates so you can easily track your shipments. In addition to this, you’ll also receive push notifications to let you know when you’re eligible for an upgrade on your iPhone.

Now when you order something from the Apple Store, you’ll receive automatic updates on its delivery status without having to check manually. Apple will send you notifications when your item has shipped, when your item has been delivered, as well as any updates while its on its way to your house.

On top of that, for customers in the U.S. only, Apple will now let you know when you’re eligible for upgrade pricing on a new iPhone, which is great if you can never remember when that is.

Of course, these push notifications can be customized right in the Apple Store app. To do so, just tap the “More” tab at the bottom of the screen and then choose “Notifications” and you can enable or disable them so they meet your needs.

The updated version of the Apple Store app for iPhone is available to download now..

Image Credit: Cult of Mac

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While the market for Apple products in Afghanistan is incredibly small and the country doesn’t have its own Apple Store, this doesn’t mean you can’t go to the mall and buy yourself a good ol’ iPhone. This is because of Mohammed Nasri, a man who decided to open his own (unofficial) Apple Store within the country.

While it may not have the shine or polish of a real Apple Store, the products sold at the Kabul location are the same genuine Apple products that you would buy anywhere else in the world. The store, which is located in the country’s biggest mall, has been open since August 2010 and is located in Kabul’s upper class Share-e-Naw district.

Nasri buys his Apple products from Dubai in bulk, and then re-sells them at the Afghanistan store for profit. Nasri says he sells the 16GB iPhone 5 for $700 and that he manages to sell between five or six a day as well as one to two laptops per day. He says that the profit margins on the products he sells range from $10 to $50. Not quite up to Apple’s figures…

Still, the store is reportedly doing well enough that Nasri is considering expanding to a second location within Kabul. If Apple does in fact release a lower-cost iPhone in the near future, that should also drastically improve business.

It’s unclear as to whether Apple is aware the location exists, or whether it simply doesn’t care. Nasri said he sent pictures of his location to Apple when he first opened the store to hear the company’s thoughts, but that he never got a response.

In China last year, authorities found and shut down a total of 22 unofficial Apple Store locations within the country.

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Apple has begun sending out $15 checks to those who filed claims in the “antennagate” lawsuit. Several people that took part in the class action suit have taken to the internet say that Apple has sent them a check in compensation for the antenna problems that existed on the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 featured a new and innovative antenna design that had the device’s antenna exist within the phone’s stainless steel bezel. Unfortunately, this design prompted unexpected issues with the phone that caused it to experience poor reception and dropped calls when held in a particular way.

Apple was reluctant to admit fault for the problem at first, with Steve Jobs having said, “All phones have sensitive areas, just avoid holding it in this way.” After continuous public pressure, however, Apple decided to give customers free iPhone 4 bumpers that helped to address the issue. Even with the free cases, a class action lawsuit ensued against the company.

This lawsuit wasn’t settled until February of last year, where it was ruled that all affected iPhone 4 customers could choose to claim either another free case or a $15 check.

If you submitted a claim for the $15, expect to see it show up in your mail sometime soon.

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Apple has said it will announce its second quarter financial results at 5 PM EST today, and predictions have already come in for what the company will report. Wall Street and certain analysts have been betting against Apple, with the guess that the Cupertino company will experience its first negative growth income in over a decade. This means that it would be the first time in recent history that Apple’s quarterly results dropped from what they were the year before it.

Yahoo! Finance put together an average of over 40 analyst estimates for Apple’s results, with $42.59 billion being the average predicted revenue. This would still show revenue growth for Apple, as the company took in $39.2 billion in Q2 2012. Analysts say that Apple’s earnings will sit at roughly $10.02 per share and that the company will have sold an estimated 36.5 million iPhones, 18.3 million iPads, 6.25 million iPods, and 4.1 million Macs.

Those numbers sit in line with what Apple themselves predicted for its Q2 results. Apple usually sets the bar low for itself on its predictions, so if history proves true you can expect these numbers to be even higher.

Tune-in here at 5 PM EST if you want to hear Apple talk dollar signs as it happens.

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Everyone laughs at the folk that use their iPads as cameras. It just looks so silly to hold up such a massive device with such a mediocre camera, especially when we almost all have iPhones in our pockets as well.

Everyone that is except for this one iPad wielding photographer, who has gotten the last laugh after his camera of choice saved him from a guaranteed trip to the hospital. While using his iPad to photograph a kids softball game, a foul ball popped back and started to sail straight for his face.

Fortunately, the iPad took the impact of the ball and the elderly man was unharmed. Not only that, but the iPad continued to function and the man went straight back to snapping pictures of the game like nothing happened.

Personally, I would gladly take a softball to the face before using the iPad’s camera like that in public.

The post Using Your iPad As A Camera May Extend Your Life appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has reportedly started restricting special emoji-type characters for app descriptions, which limits app makers to standard text for updates that are submitted. According to a developer, Apple’s new iconography requirements were set on April 19.

With the new restriction, Apple is no longer letting developers submit app description edits with the unique character sets, which includes a checkmark, an explosion, the “no” symbol and a speech bubble. Other special characters might also be restricted, but they have yet to be verified.

Special characters like these are often used by developers to draw attention to tweaks or additional features to an app. For example, YouTube’s most recent update on April 15 used checkmarks to denote the app’s basic feature set.

Apple hasn’t specified a reason for the change, but its possible that the company wants a more unified App Store experience, so that everyone, for example, uses real bullet points instead of some using checkmarks.

The post Apple Restricting Use Of Special Characters In App Descriptions appeared first on Macgasm.

Have an old iPad laying around collecting dust? Why not turn the display into an external monitor for your PC. That’s exactly what a polish hacker did when he managed to get an iPad display online and then hacked the Retina display to run as an external display at maximum resolution.

Using the DisplayPort technology, an interface board (available on GitHub), and a lot of skills most of us don’t possess, Emeryth managed to get the display running in tip-top shape.

Creating the PCB was fairly straightforward, I just had to route all the FPC connector pins out to pads where I would solder DP cable wires. It was possible on a single-sided home-made board.

I tried to make the traces for DP lanes to be of the same length (that’s very important for high speed differential signals), and as it turns out, either my PCB design is pretty good, or DisplayPort is very forgiving. :)

Soldering everything was a little difficult, the FPC connector has tiny pins, but they stick out a little bit, so it’s doable with a regular soldering iron.
After the PCB was done, I cut open a DP cable and soldered all the wires in their places.

Unfortunately there is no standard for wire colors, so I had to open up the DP plug to trace them to the correct pins.

Talk about a badass project. The only thing that would make it more badass would be getting it to work in OS X so I can build one and slam it into my car with an old Mac Mini.

Hat tip to Franco Varriano for sending this one in to us…

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Apple’s got to be working on a major iCloud update. There’s no other way to explain why the service is down again for some customers this morning. Over the last couple of weeks iCloud has been up and down more times than the Grand Old Duke of York.

This time around, much like last, Mail services and third part syncing in apps seem to be flakey again. It’s not across the board down time, but some users have been experiencing problems again. Twitter’s a buzz, and people seem to be confused about why their email isn’t working this morning.

Apple’s PR team has admitted to their being problems, but haven’t managed to expand any further than that. We have no idea why, but iCloud is down again. Enjoy it.

According to Apple’s service status page, there also seems to be some problems with AppleID sign-ins and iTunes purchase completions. They could all be related.

iCloud is offline (shocker)….which is kinda cool because I feel like i’m at inbox zero (via having no inbox).

— Defrag/Glue (@defrag) April 23, 2013

Seriously. iCloud seems to be getting the bejesus spammed out of it today. twitter.com/rcarlc/status/…

— Carl Chandler (@rcarlc) April 23, 2013

icloud email playing up for anyone else right now?

— RussTheRef (@RussBurt) April 23, 2013

The post What’s Going On With iCloud? It’s Partially Down Again! appeared first on Macgasm.

Apple has updated the iTunes Store to allow users to purchase content ahead of downloading it. When purchasing some forms of audio and video content via the iTunes Store, you’ll notice a dialog box that asks if you would like to download your purchased content now or later. The option pops up when purchasing music box sets, movie bundles, TV episodes and TV Season Passes. Standard songs and albums will not be affected by this change.

This new feature will be useful for times when you’re on a spotty public wi-fi network and your favorite TV series or music box set goes on sale. Instead of waiting multiple hours for your download to finish, you can wait to start the download at home while still paying the discounted price.

If you decide to download your iTunes content later, it will be available for download or streaming via iTunes in the cloud. The download later functionality has been added to all iOS 6 devices as well as Macs and PCs running the latest release of iTunes 11.

The post Apple Now Lets iTunes Users Buy Content Now, Download Later appeared first on Macgasm.

It appears that Apple may have turned away a recent batch of as many as 8 million iPhones produced for their them by Foxconn due to quality concerns.

The news is shaky as part of it has been lost in translation from Chinese to English, but the Register reports that Apple has in fact sent back between five to eight million iPhones to its manufacturer Foxconn because of quality related issues. With each phone costing $200 to manufacture, this would put Foxconn’s potential loss from the error as high as $1.6 billion. This is an unrealistic figure, however, as it is doubtful that Foxconn would simply scrap the faulty phones as opposed to fixing them or re-using their parts.

Forbes is suggesting that the original report was intended to say eight million iPhones have been returned in total, to date. This is due to the fact that it seems almost impossibly unlikely that Foxconn or Apple could make such a massive quality control gaff as to produce such a massive number of defective devices.

I certainly tend to agree with the Forbes analysis as these numbers would certainly be reasonable for the total number of iPhone 5s returned but just seem too unbelievable for a one time error. If the news does turn out to be true, expect Apple’s stock to take a significant hit.

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Over the weekend, a powerful earthquake struck the city of Ya’an in Sichuan province, which isn’t far from the site of an even larger earthquake in 2008. In an effort to help victims of the Chinese earthquake, Apple has pledged to donate RMB 50 million (US $8 million). Earlier, Apple’s rival, Samsung, pledged to donate RMB 60 million ($9.63 million).

News of Apple’s donation for the earthquake relief comes from its public relations channels, while Samsung posted its offering on the Samsung China official Sina Weibo page. Apple has set up a memorial page for the earthquake victims on its homepage. The company also released a statement pledging new gadgets for the schools affected by the earthquake:

“At this difficult time, our hearts are with the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. Aside from the cash donation to help the affected people to tide over their difficulties, we are committed to providing new Apple devices to schools in the disaster area, and Apple employees in the locality are on stand-by at any time to help.”

Samsung’s post on Weibo also came with a statement from Samsung China president Zhang Yuanji, saying: “Samsung China is always with the Chinese people through thick and thin, to tide over the difficulties.” Samsung has also reportedly set up ad-hoc free phone repair centres in the affected earthquake zone.

Lately there has been a lot of tension between Apple and the Chinese government, and there is no end in sight for its rivalry with Samsung. I’m sure there will be some debate over who donated more, but both companies have made considerable donations which will go a long way in helping the victims of this earthquake.

Image Credit: The National

The post Apple, Samsung Donating Millions To Victims Of Chinese Earthquake appeared first on Macgasm.

RadioShack has just begun selling Mac accessories produced by Apple. This is the first time the company has done so, though it has previously sold third-party accessories, iPods and iPhones. These accessories include the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad, amongst other peripherals. You can view the full list of accessories on RadioShack’s website.

If the past repeats itself, we may very well see RadioShack sell Apple laptops and desktops later this year. We saw a similar situation at Staples in the past. The company started out selling Mac accessories, and eventually moved on to sell Macs, iPads and iPhones.

RadioShack is an electronics store who has over 4,700 stores in the United States and Mexico. The company is known for selling a mix of consumer electronics, electronics hardware and audio equipment.

RadioShack is currently running a promotion that gives all purchases of $30 or more a free $10 credit towards a future purchase. This promotion ends on June 1st, so If you’re in the market for a new AirPort Express or other accessory, it’s worth giving your local RadioShack a visit.

Image Source: Bekathwia

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iCloud has once again been hit with server outages. According to Apple’s System Status page, Game Center was hit twice on Thursday morning and once on Friday morning with outages. Thursday’s outages lasted from 5:45 AM to 7:11 AM CDT with the second lasting from 10:58 AM to 11:22 AM CDT. Friday’s outage lasted from 8:17 AM to 8:47 AM CDT. These outages caused some users to experience slow or nonexistent Game Center service.

Apple has also reported that the iCloud webmail client was down for a mere 0.008% of users from 1:00 PM on Thursday to 4:00 PM CDT on Friday. However, users affected by this outage were still able to access iCloud mail via Mail.app on Mac and iOS as well as through third-party mail clients.

This isn’t the first time this month we’ve seen Apple experience iCloud issues. On the 9th of April, a five-hour outage hit iMessage and FaceTime users, leaving them unable to reliably communicate. On the 12th, the services again went offline for roughly an hour.

Though we’re still not sure what’s causing these frequent iCloud outages, we do know that Apple is working on fixing these issues for good. The company is currently in the process of building a new data center in Reno, Nevada that should take some of the stress off of Apple’s other server farms and reduce the amount of widespread outages.

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Concerns have recently been raised about some confusing disclosures in Siri’s privacy policy, and an Apple spokeswoman, Trudy Miller, has since responded to these concerns, admitting that Siri will store data for up to two years.

This is the first time that Apple has responded about how long it keeps Siri’s data. According to Miller, “Apple may keep anonymized Siri data for up to two years. If a user turns Siri off, both identifiers are deleted immediately along with any associated data.”

Every time you talk to Siri or ask a question, the conversation is sent to Apple for analysis. Random numbers are generated to represent you and the voice data associated with Siri. This code is different from both your Apple user ID and your UDID, but it’s filed with your Siri logs. According to Wired, once a specific file is six months old, the number is “dissociated” from the clip, but the clip is still kept on hand for up to 18 months. So while everything is anonymous, it’s still stored for a certain period of time.

Nicole Ozer, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who first questioned Siri’s privacy policy, says Apple should be doing more to make users aware of how their data is used and stored. She argues that, “There is no good reason for Apple to not include information about privacy practices on their Siri FAQ page” so that consumers know what’s going on before they buy an Apple product.

Regardless of the anonymity, Ozer says that transcripts of what you say to Siri could reveal personal information about your, your family or your business. She warns, “Siri works for Apple, so make a note to yourself to really think before you speak.” I mean, you don’t want everyone knowing about that funky mole you found under your armpit.

Image Credit: IntexSoft

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In an effort to end the year and a half long EU antitrust investigation involving Apple and a number of large publishers, Pearson’s Penguin unit has offered to the European Commission to end its e-book deal with Apple that placed price restrictions on Amazon and other retailers.

If the European Commission accepts the offer it would make Penguin the fifth and final book publisher to settle with regulators, effectively ending the 16-month long investigation without fining or finding any wrongdoing.

Regulators have been worried that pricing deals like this would prevent growth of the e-book market, with higher prices for consumers. Right now Amazon has the biggest share of that market.

In December, settlements were reached with the Commission between Apple and publishers Simon & Scuster, News Corp unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Livre and Verlagsgruppe Georg con Holtzbrinck, the owner of Germany’s Macmillan.

Penguin’s offer includes ending the “most-favored nation,” which kept rival booksellers from selling e-books at a lower price point than Apple, for five years. The agreement would also allow retailers to set prices and discounts for two years, which is the same agreement that other publishers have settled with the Commission.

Interested parties have one month to comment on Penguin’s proposal before the Commission comes to a decision.

Image Credit: VentureBeat

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